Video: Possible Oceans, ‘Throw the Knife (Again)’

Kevin Bronson on June 2nd, 2022

0

Singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Trevor O’Neill has steered the sound of his solo project, Possible Oceans, away from guitar-driven alt-rock since the release of the 2018 EP “Phase Change.” With a nudge from his co-producer, Jules de Gasperis, Possible Oceans now forges a layered, space-rock aesthetic — though no less cinematic and dark than the project’s early work.

When Possible Oceans’ debut album, “Death by Misadventure,” arrives July 29, it figures to cast a steely glare at global maelstrom, and the new single released this week, “Throw the Knife (Again),” casts matters in an almost-paranoiac light. The song is actually a remake of an early Possible Oceans track, re-imagined for the album.

“The idea came from watching an old video of a knife-throwing act where a blindfolded man was throwing knives at children strapped to a spinning wheel,” O’Neill says. “It reminded me of the way people in power in our world often seem to blindly do whatever they feel like doing, whatever benefits them, without considering the consequences for those around them.

“It seems like our entire civilization is taking those kinds of risks, and it often feels like we are watching the beginning of the end as a result. I think I wrote this record to try to make sense of what it means to be alive in a time like this. There’s so much turmoil and huge issues that feel so completely impossible to face, but we’re all still here trying to make a life and find joy even though it feels like the whole thing could be over tomorrow.”

O’Neill directed the video for the single, a shadowy affair that touches on civil unrest, climate change and government corruption. To any dark forces who will listen, he sings, “Must be out of your mind to commit such a crime.”

Or not.

||| Watch: The video for “Throw the Knife (Again)”